ARSENE WENGER was beaming with pride last night after his beleaguered Arsenal side bounced back from two goals down to stun their north London rivals.

A miserable recent run meant few observers gave the Gunners a chance going into this one with Spurs having been tipped to hammer yet another nail into the coffin of Wenger’s season.

And that’s the way it looked like turning out when Spurs surged into a fourth-minute lead courtesy of Louis Saha’s deflected strike.

The home side’s brittle confidence took another battering in the 34th minute when Emmanuel Adebayor scored from the spot after Gunners keeper Wojciech Szczesny was adjudged to have downed Gareth Bale in the box.

But the home side weren’t ready to roll over and Bacary Sagna’s header and a wonder strike from Robin van Persie squared it before the break.

Thomas Rosicky made it 3-2 after half time before Theo Walcott’s superb double won it, with Spurs’ Scott Parker sent off late on after picking up a second booking.

The spirit shown by Arsenal left Wenger delighted.

The Frenchman said: “Today showed Arsenal is alive more than anyone thought. We had an emphatic performance today where on the spirit and technical side, and the drive of the whole team and style of the way we want to play, everything was perfect despite a very bad start.

“I felt in the first five minutes Spurs started well but it was all us for the next 85 minutes.

“We were 2-0 down and just refused to lose the game and kept going no matter what happened.

“Once we were back to 2-2 you saw that if we maintained the pace we would win the game.

“There was great balance between attack and defence, between creativity and going into the space behind their defenders, and we showed maturity. We had a great spirit.”

Today’s win propels Arsenal into the Champions League places ahead of Chelsea on goals scored and the Gunners now lie just seven points shy of third-placed Tottenham.

For Wenger, the derby triumph proves Arsenal are still in with a shout of ending the campaign above their bitter north London rivals.

He said: “It is still possible? If we keep our run going, why not?

“But before the game it was ‘impossible’. I always thought it was possible but it would be down to consistency. Everybody in the Premier League can lose points.

“They have a different schedule to us but if we continue to play like that then why not?”

Despite the many positives, Arsenal’s victory was tarnished slightly by injuries to both Rosicky and defender Thomas Vermaelen, which could keep them out for the coming weeks.

Spurs gaffer Harry Redknapp had little to smile about after seeing his side taken apart and the man tipped to become the next England boss seemed shell-shocked when he admitted it was “one of those days”.

He said: “I wasn’t comfortable to be honest at 2-0 up. They were creating chances at 2-0.

“To be fair, when they got back to 2-2 they had an opportunity to go 3-2 before half-time so I wasn’t exactly sitting feeling comfortable.

“We were hitting them on the counter-attack but we were camping deep in our half and they were making opportunities.

“At 2-0 I didn’t feel comfortable and at 2-2 I felt even less comfortable and the momentum was with them at half-time. They came off to a standing ovation and you knew it was going to be a very tough second half.

“Van Persie with the second goal was really amazing. He had a foot to aim in and stuck it in the top corner.

“They had a bit of quality about them today. They were busy in the middle of the park. It was one of those days for us. We weren’t the same.”

The sending off of Parker also left Redknapp with more woes as the England midfield star will now miss next week’s clash with Man U.

Redknapp also revealed Ledley King is a doubt for that one after struggling with knee and hamstring problems during yesterday’s rout.